Prophet Joshua, Yeshua, Eissa? (pbuh)

"7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." - JOSHUA 1:7-9

7 Solamente esfuérzate y sé muy valiente, cuidando de obrar conforme a toda la Ley que mi siervo Moisés te mandó; no te apartes de ella ni a la derecha ni a la izquierda, para que seas prosperado en todas las cosas que emprendas.

8 Nunca se apartará de tu boca este libro de la Ley, sino que de día y de noche meditarás^[i] en él, para que guardes y hagas conforme a todo lo que está escrito en él, porque entonces harás prosperar tu camino y todo te saldrá bien.

9

"MIRA QUE TE MANDO QUE TE ESFUERCES Y SEAS VALIENTE;
NO TEMAS NI DESMAYES, PORQUE TU DIOS ESTARA CONTIGO DONDEQUIERA QUE VAYAS."
-JOSUE 1:7-9

God's commands to Joshua in this passage greatly contributed to shaping my character, behavior and empowering me in so many ways. It is one of the first verses I would teach my students at bible study and one that I would often reflect upon for a large portion of my life.

It has been a long time since I posted to my blog. It had also been a long time since I had recalled prophet Joshua and his words until Arilev and I were discussing the root letters of the names of the prophets between Arabic and Hebrew and the connection between Eissa's (Jesus') name and Joshua's (Yeshua's) name with regards to the Semetic letter spellings. Yosha' bin Noon as he is known in Arabic (Pbuh), is recognized as a prophet in the famous book Qasas Al-Anbiyaa (Stories of the Prophets).... He accompanied prophet Musa (Moses) (alayhi salam) in the desert for 40 yrs...also Yusha' bin Nun led bani israel into yareho known as Jericho. He was the prophet after Moses.  You will probably be seeing many more blog posts than what I typically word. It is always a blessing to be surrounded by people who inspire through example and who have nothing but goodness coming out of their mouths. As Jesus (pbuh) said; "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

Joshua is believed to be mentioned indirectly in at least two places in the Qur'an...

(1) "Two men of those who feared, upon both of whom Allah had bestowed a favour..." (Qur'an 5:23)

One of the "two men" is said to have been Joshua as various commentators mention:

Ibn Kathir: "It is said that they were Yashu bin Noon and Kaleb..."

al Suyuti: "They were Yusha and Kaleb"

al Qurtubi: "Ibn Abbas and others have said (that) they were Yusha and Kaleb"

See also Abdullah Yusuf Ali's footnote to this verse.


(2) "Behold, Moses said to his attendant..." (Qur'an 18:60)

Commenting on "attendant":

Ibn Kathir: "Yashu bin Noon"

al Suyuti: "Yusha bin Noon"

al Qurtubi: "His attendant, Yusha bin Noon"

   

Yehoshua (Joshua) of Nun is called Yeshua in Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 8:17.  At the time of the Second Temple, the name Yeshua was one of the most common names of that period, evidently tied with Eliezer (another one of my favorite names) for fifth place, behind Simon (love that name), Joseph (my all time favorite), and Judah.  John, known as Yahya in the Quran (pbuh), was said in the Quran to be the first to be named Yahya by Allah.

Joshua's original name apparently was Hoshea, meaning Salvation (Num. 13:8), but then Moses changed it to Yehosua, and then Yeshua is the shortened form of it. 

According to another source, Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene.  

Yusha' bin Nun, in Hebrew - Yeshua and Oshea are said to mean "God is my salvation."

There is also a hadith where Mohammed (pbuh) is said to have mentioned that the sun never stopped to anyone except for Yusha bin Nun where he led his people after the death of Moses to enter the Promised Land.  "So he marched on and approached a village at or about the time of the Asr prayers.  He said to the sun:  Thou art submissive to Allah and so am I.  Oh Allah, stop the sun for me a little.  It was stopped for him until Allah granted him victory...." Muslim 19, 4327

It might also be possible to argue the similarity of Issa and Yusha, as the dots added later along the history of the Arabic language, if removed, would bring these two names very close together in pronunciation, but that would require more research on my part.

In conclusion, this is all I have been able to collect on the topic so far.  I will continue to add and refine this post as time goes on and I welcome any comments or corrections.